Belgrade is really cool, if you go try the burek at pekara trpkovic. Sarajevo is nice as well but it's small so don't spend more than 3 days there. Avoid Bulgaria at all costs. Northern greece is underated as hell, Thessaloniki is really nice.
In Bulgaria I'd recommend visiting: >Tryavna
Preserved old small town with a lot of traditional foods and crafts.
>Nesebar (particularly old town)
Coastal town with nice restaurants and places to take a walk.
>Plovdiv
Large city with lots of art/history places to visit, quaint cafes and shops. Locals are gays though.
>Stara Zagora
Entire city is covered in trees, above the city is a large park that turns into a forest, tons of ancient sites, whole streets have been unearthed and you can walk around them.
>Gabrovo
Nice mountain town, the Etar is an ethnographic complex similar to Tryavna.
>Asenovgrad
Lots of old fortresses and keeps around.
Those are off the top of my head. Avoid the highway to stumble onto neat little places along the road, in villages or between them, like old bridges and water fountains.
The capital is AIDS, would not recommend.
Only been to one spot in the Balkans, but North Macedonia was great in my opinion. Skopje is interesting for a couple nights, then I’d recommend renting a car and doing the drive down to Ohrid. The drive will take you through the mountains and you’ll get to see a bunch of small towns on the way. If you can, stay in one of the airbnbs next to the church of John the theologian. You’ll be right next to the water in a pretty town and walking distance from bars/nightlife stuff. I plan to try Bulgaria and maybe Kosovo soon
Ohrid >kino lakeside town with shitloads of churches, can take boat ride to monasterey, etc
Dhermi >village on Albanian Riviera. Populated by Greeks. Really cool walk from the 'top part of the village' down to the beach. Gjipe beach is nearby, and you can walk there
Orikum >Has some sunstantial Roman Ruins nearby, where Caesar did a siege (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Oricum). To get there you have to get an escort through an Albanian military base. There's 0 protection here and you can do whatever the frick you like. From here you can get a bus through the Llogara pass which is a kino journey (also where Caesar marched his troops during civil war)
Himare/Vlore >Simply as a staging ground for boat trips to 'inaccesible locations'. I.e. amazing beaches, Albania's 'military island', etc
Shkoder >Staging ground for the epic Theth - Valbona hike
Zadar >Staging groud for Plitvice and has quite a nice old town to get drunk in
Sokobanja >Spa town in south Serbian highlands. Quite chill, and has a few decent drinking spots.
Noone representin my Dalmatia so let me give you a small guide
1) My hometown of Split >ex-roman colony, has a beautiful roman style to it inside the center, cool islands like Brac and Hvar are close by
2) Zadar >Very similar to Split, choose one or the other
3) Vis > A small island with beautiful scenery, I prefer small and remote beaches with beautiful nature where you can swim naked
4) Dalmatinska Zagora >Croatian Texas during summer, get some nice wild boar meat in one of the small villages such as Imotski
Thats the coastal regions, I will also give you a description of beautiful mountain region Lika
1) Gospic >Small little town where you can experience rural lifestyle of the croatland
2) Krbavsko polje >Field where many many battles in history played out
3) Velebit >Mountain range great for hiking, beautiful nature
Ive been to Dubrovnik, Split, Mostar and Kotor. Also some smaller villages along the way. I'd recommend any of them... although, i hear they've grown in their tourist trap nature a ton since i visited.
Novi Sad
Mostar
sarajevo
cluj
>Cluj
>Balkans
Belgrade is really cool, if you go try the burek at pekara trpkovic. Sarajevo is nice as well but it's small so don't spend more than 3 days there. Avoid Bulgaria at all costs. Northern greece is underated as hell, Thessaloniki is really nice.
>Avoid Bulgaria at all costs
more on that?
Disregard this Anon.
In Bulgaria I'd recommend visiting:
>Tryavna
Preserved old small town with a lot of traditional foods and crafts.
>Nesebar (particularly old town)
Coastal town with nice restaurants and places to take a walk.
>Plovdiv
Large city with lots of art/history places to visit, quaint cafes and shops. Locals are gays though.
>Stara Zagora
Entire city is covered in trees, above the city is a large park that turns into a forest, tons of ancient sites, whole streets have been unearthed and you can walk around them.
>Gabrovo
Nice mountain town, the Etar is an ethnographic complex similar to Tryavna.
>Asenovgrad
Lots of old fortresses and keeps around.
Those are off the top of my head. Avoid the highway to stumble onto neat little places along the road, in villages or between them, like old bridges and water fountains.
The capital is AIDS, would not recommend.
Outside of the old city walls Thessaloniki is worse than Naples, don't listen to this dolt
I didn't find used needles in the city center unlike Naples
Did you go anywhere west of the train tracks or did you just stay in #oldtown like every other woman?
Only been to one spot in the Balkans, but North Macedonia was great in my opinion. Skopje is interesting for a couple nights, then I’d recommend renting a car and doing the drive down to Ohrid. The drive will take you through the mountains and you’ll get to see a bunch of small towns on the way. If you can, stay in one of the airbnbs next to the church of John the theologian. You’ll be right next to the water in a pretty town and walking distance from bars/nightlife stuff. I plan to try Bulgaria and maybe Kosovo soon
Pretty much all of it, tbh.
Stand out locations from memory for me were:
Ohrid
>kino lakeside town with shitloads of churches, can take boat ride to monasterey, etc
Dhermi
>village on Albanian Riviera. Populated by Greeks. Really cool walk from the 'top part of the village' down to the beach. Gjipe beach is nearby, and you can walk there
Orikum
>Has some sunstantial Roman Ruins nearby, where Caesar did a siege (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Oricum). To get there you have to get an escort through an Albanian military base. There's 0 protection here and you can do whatever the frick you like. From here you can get a bus through the Llogara pass which is a kino journey (also where Caesar marched his troops during civil war)
Himare/Vlore
>Simply as a staging ground for boat trips to 'inaccesible locations'. I.e. amazing beaches, Albania's 'military island', etc
Shkoder
>Staging ground for the epic Theth - Valbona hike
Zadar
>Staging groud for Plitvice and has quite a nice old town to get drunk in
Sokobanja
>Spa town in south Serbian highlands. Quite chill, and has a few decent drinking spots.
Ada Bojana/Ulcinj
Noone representin my Dalmatia so let me give you a small guide
1) My hometown of Split
>ex-roman colony, has a beautiful roman style to it inside the center, cool islands like Brac and Hvar are close by
2) Zadar
>Very similar to Split, choose one or the other
3) Vis
> A small island with beautiful scenery, I prefer small and remote beaches with beautiful nature where you can swim naked
4) Dalmatinska Zagora
>Croatian Texas during summer, get some nice wild boar meat in one of the small villages such as Imotski
Thats the coastal regions, I will also give you a description of beautiful mountain region Lika
1) Gospic
>Small little town where you can experience rural lifestyle of the croatland
2) Krbavsko polje
>Field where many many battles in history played out
3) Velebit
>Mountain range great for hiking, beautiful nature
Ive been to Dubrovnik, Split, Mostar and Kotor. Also some smaller villages along the way. I'd recommend any of them... although, i hear they've grown in their tourist trap nature a ton since i visited.